As is well known, male or female connector elements are automatically crimped or otherwise fixed to the ends of a plurality of wires in the production of wire harnesses. Often, it is necessary to rearrange a lateral arrangement, i.e., the position, of wires so as to be at same intervals in which the male or female connector elements are arranged at the crimping stage. One conventional wire-rearranging apparatus uses a wire-passing stand having a plurality of slots arranged laterally at given intervals. Another conventional wire-rearranging apparatus uses a comb-like plate having a plurality of slots laterally arranged at given intervals in which the slots are arranged at fixed intervals. Such conventional wire-rearranging apparatuses are disclosed for instance, in Japanese Utility Model Application Public Disclosure No. 2-44243 and Patent Application Public disclosure No. 1-307185.
The arrangement of slots at fixed intervals in the comb-like plate permits a lateral wire arrangement or position to be rearranged so as to be at the same regular intervals as the slots of the comb-like plate or in the same pattern as the slots of the comb-like plate are arranged. Therefore, it is necessary to have a large supply of different comb-like plates having slots at different intervals or in different interval patterns so as to meet a variety of demands for changing wire intervals. The preparing of numerous different comb-like plates to meet occasional demands requires laborious and time-consuming work using extra jigs and tools. Accordingly, the work efficiency will be lowered.